Linus Torvalds: Kernel 2.6.25-rc1 "Bloody Large"

Linus Torvalds has announced the first release candidate of the new 2.6.25 kernel, codenamed "Bloody Large".

There is a reason for this name: according to Torvalds the kernel includes various new features and wide-ranging changes to basic functionality. The modifications affect some 1.4 million lines of code, and the diff file weighs in at 11MB. According to Torvald’s research most changes affect architecture and drivers.

In his mail to the kernel mailing list Torvalds explains the extent of the modifications with the backlog of work that built up during the kernel 2.6.24 phase, and which is now filtering through to the new version. An detailed changelog is available; the patch is available from Kernel.org.

To be more specifc, the graphic’s drivers for Intel cards now have native support for suspend and resume – with or without X support. This change will help many laptop users, including Torvalds himself as he remarked. Device access order in general suspend/resume cases has also been changed. The modifications also affect users who do not have Intel graphics adapters. After merging the 32 bit and 64 bit architecture branches there was some cleaning up to complete. Additionally, kernel 2.6.25-rc1 includes changes to legacy IDENTITY drivers, and new drivers for Intel e1000 network cards that use the PCI Express port.

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Linus Torvalds has released the new 2.6.25 kernel just slightly behind schedule. Besides improvements to the CFS scheduler and a plethora of new drivers, the kernel also introduces a political aspect: it debars non-GPLd USB drivers.

A controversial patch for the imminent kernel 2.6.25 is causing much debate in the developer community: in a similar move to one he made two years ago, the well-known kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman has submitted a patch that prevents closed source USB drivers from using the kernel's USB driver API.